Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Yigal:

On Sun, Mar 27, 2011 at 11:23 PM, Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>wrote:

> Karl, I'm not going to get into a debate about this, both because George
> closed the thread


Sorry, this was intended neither to be a debate, nor a violation of the
closing of the thread. It appears in my mail box as a separate thread.


> and because I know that whatever I write will not convince you anyway, but
> you keep presenting what is a very small minority opinion among professional
> archaeologists and historians of the period as if it were the commonly held
> view.


I presented it only as a position advanced by professional archaeologists
and historians, without reference whether it is a majority or minority
position.

In fields where there are far more trained people (even I have had some
formal training in archeology, not just as a volunteer on a dig) than
openings, to espouse views that are out of the box can be the “kiss of
death” for one’s professional life. That is why one finds that an article
can mention off hand that the Amarna Letters fit the 9th to 8th centuries BC
Levant, but then illogically spill more ink trying to fit them into the late
bronze age. And that is not the only example.

I have no respect for a consensus that is reached by destroying people’s
careers, even if the consensus turns out to be correct.


> There is nothing in your final statement, "the historical records and
> archeology seem to indicate that Israel entered Egypt during the third
> dynasty, and left during the 13th. The Hyksos period started after the
> Exodus. With the Exodus dated by the Bible about 1450 BC. But is also brings
> the destruction of those cities into Abraham’s time", that represents the
> consensus among professional archaeologists and historians of the period.
>
> But it is a view advanced by some professional historians and
archaeologists, and they have done so in a way I find more convincing than
the consensus. Hence I find no problem in presenting their findings.

As for a consensus that doesn’t seem to fit the facts on the ground, I am
willing to cry that “the emperor has no clothes.” But then I don’t fear
losing my job over such an outburst.

>
> Yigal Levin
>
>
> I present these findings only in so far as they affect our understanding of
the Hebrew language used to record these events.

Karl W. Randolph.